Stories from the field

Stories tagged with Philippines

After visiting many Kiva CCT borrowers, I noticed a trend that the primary business requiring a loan is not the only source of income. In the Philippines side jobs are referred to as “sidelines” or “extra income”. I have met a teachers who also sell clothing, farmers who rent out their plows to neighbors and a TV repair shop that sells ice in plastic bags during hot months. Of the CCT borrowers I’ve met, about half will have some sort of sideline.

Bizarre is probably not the best word to describe this client interview, but without a doubt we were intrigued and utterly fascinated by the alien-looking blob we saw sitting pretty before us. Corroi, HSPFI‘s Kiva Coordinator and I found ourselves staring at a live (or semi-live) sea cucumber during a visit to HSPFI client and Kiva borrower Ann Lagrada on Camiguin Island.

(This is the second part of my “most memorable client interviews on Camiguin” series – check out “The Most Beautiful Client...

The Filipinos are a very generous people. So generous, in fact, that if they don’t know your name, they will even give you a name – and that name is Joe. I am greeted in this way no less than 3 or 4 times in a day, coming from men and women both young and old: “Hey Joe!”

As many guide books will tell you, in many parts of the Philippines foreigners...

I experienced a lot of firsts during my week in the field visiting HSPFI‘s Camiguin Branch. Some good, some intense, all of it exciting. Amongst all these firsts, I’m convinced that I witnessed on Camiguin Island both the most beautiful and the most bizarre client interviews that I’ll get to conduct while here in the Philippines. This post is about the former – check out the latter at “The Most Bizarre Client Interview (Part 2 of 2)“!

One of the great parts of being a Kiva Fellow in the Philippines is the access it gives you to other countries with relatively inexpensive domestic and international flights. Cebu Pacific is one of a handful of budget airlines in the Philippines that allow you to fly internationally to places like Hong Kong, Taipei and Vietnam for around $100 USD round-trip. You can also fly domestically for less than $40 USD which already came in handy when visiting a branch about a 45 minute flight away.

It is time to smile! That’s right Bacolod, Philippines has a festival that is committed to smiling. After all the city is also known as the city of smiles. I have had the distinct please of witnessing bright colors, load music and smelling chicken roasting on an open BBQ.

This is how my morning started…woke up around 5 am – packed and ready to go – off on my first trip to meet the Kiva borrowers after 2 weeks in the Philippines! Started humming a little tune to myself…”I’m on my way, I don’t know where I’m going, I’m on my way, taking my time but I don’t know where….( shout...

We as Kiva lenders want to believe that the borrowers take out their loans in good faith. We want to believe that the Kiva field partners conduct the necessary due diligence to ensure that their clients have ability and determination to succeed. But what happens when everyone is doing the right thing and disaster strikes? Given the natural disaster that recently fell upon the Central and Northern Luzon provinces of...

I am standing in the Charlotte Douglas International Airport October 13, enjoying one last long hug from my wife before I depart on my travels to Bacolod, Philippines. Little do I know the many lessons that I will learn over the next three days. My travels start with no problems as I board my plane in Charlotte at 6:10 am for departure to Cleveland, OH. The flight goes smoothly to Cleveland and I will have a few quick minutes to grab breakfast before my next leg of my flight to San Francisco. I had...

In the last 5 years, financial innovation has spread rapidly to the field of microfinance. What previously was better coined micro-credit is starting to live up to its name, with more and more MFIs starting to offer a full gambit of financial services: microinsurance, microsavings, remittances and others. Technology is enabling these products to spread faster and further. But just what are the impacts of these products and how can we be sure that microfinance is really doing all that its rosy image implies? One increasingly popular method...

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Kiva Fellows are volunteers who maximize Kiva's impact around the world. By working closely with our Field Partners in over 50 countries, they make sure loan dollars go where they're needed most -- while having a few adventures along the way. Learn more >>